Chocolate Strawberry Cake

To make the Chocolate Strawberries:

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
2. Break the dark chocolate up and place in a microwavable bowl. Microwave for 20 seconds and stir, microwave in 10 second blasts stirring in between until the chocolate is completely melted.
3. Holding the strawberries by the leaves dip in the melted chocolate. Tap off any excess and place on the prepared baking sheet to set.
4. Melt the white chocolate in the same way you meted the dark and drizzle over the strawberries. 
5. Place in the fridge until set, a few hours.

To make the Cake:

1. Heat the oven to 175°C. Grease the base and sides of 3 9″ loose bottomed cake tins before lining the bottom of each tin with baking parchment. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment place the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt) and mix together until combined.  
3. In a large jug combine the wet ingredients (vegetable oil, buttermilk, coffee, eggs and vanilla extract) and whisk together. 
4. With the mixer on low pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until fully combined. The batter will be very liquid.
5. Pour the batter equally into the 3 tins and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a cake skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
6. Allow the cakes to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To Make the Frosting:

1. Place the freeze dried strawberries in the bowl of a food processor and process until they become a powder.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment whip the butter until light and fluffy, around 5 minutes. Add the icing sugar, powdered strawberries, milk and vanilla and beat on a low speed until everything is just combined. Turn the mixer up to high and beat for 2-3 minutes. If it’s still a little thick add a tablespoon more milk until you reach a good spreading consistency.

For the Ganache:

1. Break the chocolate up and place in a microwave safe bowl with the cream. Microwave for 20 seconds and stir together. Microwave in 10 second intervals, stirring in between each heating, until the ganache is smooth and glossy. Set aside to cool and allow to thicken slightly before using.

Assemble the Cake:

1. Place the one layer of cake on a cake stand and top with a large spoonful of the strawberry buttercream. Place another cake layer on top and repeat with the last layer.  Using a large spatular frost the outside and top of the cake, scraping off any excess buttercream from the sides so you can see the cake layers showing through.  
2. Place the ganache in a disposable piping bag and snip the end off. Pipe drips of ganache around the edge of the cake, letting it drip down the edge (If you don’t have disposable piping bag you can do this carefully using a spoon to dribble the ganache around the edge).
3. Using a piping bag fitted with an open star nozzle pipe swirls of strawberry buttercream around the top of the cake and decorate with chocolate covered strawberries.